


The Planned Birthday

by ceeloilights



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Brief Appearance From Bruce, Happy Birthday Hal!, M/M, Made up creature, a little late I'm sorry..., birthday fanfiction, it is haliday again, some anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29603286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceeloilights/pseuds/ceeloilights
Summary: Barry had planned for Hal's birthday – even if it doesn't look like it – but things never seem to work out when you're a hero
Relationships: Barry Allen/Hal Jordan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	The Planned Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, there partner!  
> I said it would be a short fic, I said it was just gonna be a short birthday fic. =/  
> This is late, but screw it, I'm posting this.  
> Hope y'all enjoy!

Hal loves Barry. He really does, with all his heart and his soul, and probably more than he should, considering his track record. Hell, he’d even bet he’d trade his own life to preserve Barry’s. Sometimes Barry doesn’t like it when he does that, since there have been some close calls, but Hal hoped that just shows how much he loves him.

With all that said, he’s not getting outta bed this early in the morning with this bad of a hangover. No matter how much Barry pleads with him, it’s not like he could change the world with the feeling of a tiny goblin stomping on his mushy brain, creating a thunderous pounding in his head every time his heart beats.

“Hal…” Barry begged in a small voice, careful not to hurt his eardrums as he pulled at his arm to get him to roll onto his back.

“ ‘m goin’ t’ lay here til I die,” Hal mumbled, not making an effort to get up. His head hurt, the Corps didn’t need him at the moment, and Carol hasn’t rung him and shoved fifty scheduled meetings down his throat, so he thinks he should be able to at least have this time off sleeping.

“No…!” Barry softly whines, “Hal, you needa get up. I scheduled so many things today, c’mon.”

Painfully flipping himself over, Hal groaned at the ridiculously agonizing way his brain felt like it was being crushed in his skull. He was so glad Barry had mercy on him and didn’t drag open the blinds yet, or else he’d feel like a burning vampire.

“The ibuprofen is right there, Hal. Do I need to feed it to you?”

“ ‘m dying…” he dramatically draped one arm over his eyes, and pulled the blankets over his head with the other.

“Hal, please...”

There was some silence that followed, where Hal nor Barry moved. Then the brunette could feel Barry’s weight shift to his side, and the harsh sound of pills clanking against plastic hit his ears before he felt the blankets get pulled away from him, his nostrils squeezed closed, and his mouth manually opened in order to pop two pellets inside.

He would’ve gagged at the bitter taste if he had the mental capacity, but he didn’t. Closing his mouth himself, he gulped down the pills dry – resisting the want to throw up whatever he had consumed yesterday – then opening his mouth and twisting his brow in a way that showed his disgust when in actuality he could just barely pick up the hint of the bitterness.

Once Barry let go of his nose he capped off the bottle and settled back into bed beside the brunette, knowing the pills will take their effect in half an hour. 

Pulling the blankets back up over Hal until Barry could tuck them just under his chin, he watched Hal turn his head slowly towards his direction. He couldn’t help the affectionate smile that spread over his lips and didn’t even realize he had leaned over to place a light kiss against the pilot’s forehead until he was pulling back. 

Laying back in his spot, this time laying on his side that faced Hal, watching the pilot breathing steadily as he slipped back into slumber. It was partly his fault for Hal’s massive hangover anyway, he might as well let Hal rest for a bit. He wanted Hal to let loose a bit on his birthday before they spend the day together. Barry thought he was going to drink at least half of the alcohol, but he ended up having to do something else – though he couldn’t remember what he so desperately needed to do that had him leave the brunette with the alcohol, and, well...this was the price he and Hal have to pay.

Moving to pick up his phone from the bedside table, he winced when the bright light hit his eyes, but caught a glance at the time anyway. 

_8:17_

Gently placing his phone back on the table, Barry tossed the blanket over himself, deciding a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.

Scooting closer towards Hal until he could feel the warmth from his skin, Barry shut his eyes, shortly following the pilot beside him into slumber.

* * *

Feeling something rousing him, the blond groggily opened his eyes, finding the sunlight that found its way streaming through the blind was progressively brighter than earlier.

How long had he been sleeping? Rolling to the edge of the bed, he grabbed his phone to check the time.

_11:42_

He would’ve felt panic if he hadn’t just woken up, replacing the usual rush of stress with simple exasperation for himself. Of course they have to have a late start to the day, he couldn’t even trust himself to plan something special.

Placing his phone back down, he felt an arm come and sling over his ribs as a nose went to bury itself into his shoulder. “G’morning,” mumbled a hoarse voice from behind, and just like that, Barry wished he’d have more days off because one day of snuggling and being together wasn’t enough.

Turning his head to face Hal’s temple, he felt the brunette’s breath against his pajamaed shoulder. Fully twisting his body around to face the pilot, Hal lifted his nose until Barry settled then hid his nose just above his armpit.

Entangling his fingers into chocolate strands, he held Hal close before murmuring, “Happy birthday.” into his hair with half-lidded eyes.

The body in his arms stirred a little and Hal’s head moved until his face was looking up at the blond with a puzzled expression, “ ’s not my birthday.” 

Lifting his head from Hal’s Barry drew his neck back and looked down with a confused expression of his own, “Is...your birthday not on the 20th?” 

“It is but…” Hal squinted his eyes and raised his head to look behind the speedster in an unsuccessful attempt to figure out the date, then lowered his head back onto the pillow when he realized Barry’s phone screen was locked, “Wait, it's February?”

That received a chuckle from the blond as he released him from the embrace. Knowing all too well the feeling of suddenly being aware of the correct date. “I planned some things for the day, if you wanna do them, you have to get up,” Barry said, pulling himself from under the blanket and off the bed. 

“You planned my whole birthday?” twisting his brow to show his annoyance when his legs untangled from Barry’s and his arm could no longer wrap around the blond’s back.

Turning to face the brunette, Barry leaned down to give him another kiss on the forehead, “Only if you want that.”

“What’d you plan?” Hal asked to stall Barry from leaving him as he very slowly pulled him towards the bed. In all honesty, he forgot his birthday even existed and still has no idea why Barry was skipping a day of work for something like a birthday, but it wasn’t every day he got to cuddle beside Barry so he didn’t bring it up.

Knowingly taking the bait, Barry sat back down on the covers. “Well, I planned on getting you a little drunk before the day, just so you can let loose,” Barry explained as Hal’s arms wrapped around his waist and a tan cheek found a spot to squish against thigh, “I’d make you some breakfast, then we go to a fair that opened a few days ago, spend some time together, visit Jim, go on a walk-”

“Not sure how Jim would feel if we came unannounced.” 

“Well, I already asked him, I said we’d be around twelve.”

That got Hal’s attention.

“You told him we'd over?” Hal lifted his head from Barry’s leg to glance around his body in another failed attempt to check Barry’s phone, “What time is it?”

“Uh… last time I checked it was 11:42.” he leaned over to unlock his phone, displaying the time as _11:46_.

Hal let out a disappointed sigh, he wanted to snuggle against Barry some more, but he perked up immediately when he realized he hasn’t seen his nieces and nephews in a while.

“Wait, what time do we have to be there again?” 

Barry smirked, glad he can finally get Hal to get up, “Twelve.”

Gathering his strength, the Lantern pushed himself to sit up and scoot his way to the other side of the bed that was closer to the bedroom door and jumped to his feet, “Well, what’re you waiting for? C’mon, Bear!”

Watching Hal race out the door, Barry had to laugh to himself, loving the childlike excitement he had towards being able to see his family. Getting up himself, he realized he wouldn’t be able to make a birthday breakfast for Hal. Lightly sighing, Barry pushed back the blond strands of hair that fell in front of his face. That kinda sucks, he was really looking forward to experimenting with cooking today and was excited to see Hal’s reaction to a nice big breakfast. 

Oh well, at least Hal’s happy. 

* * *

Checking the time, Barry wondered how long they’d be at Jim’s house. It wasn’t like Barry wanted to rush Hal, the complete opposite in fact, he was glad the pilot was having fun with his family, it was refreshing to see him so energetic, especially on his birthday. But, Barry was really hungry, and even though Jim offered him the leftover cake, he still didn’t feel full. 

Waking up late was never a win-win situation, he either wakes up early and stays drowsy for a few hours, or he wakes up with enough sleep to fuel his brain but his stomach won’t let him do anything but eat the mixed equivalent of breakfast and lunch before anything else.

He was grateful Jim could provide the cake for Hal and his children, as well as the fact that he married such a sympathetic wife who not only let Barry practically inhale the leftover birthday cake, but also accompanying him into the kitchen so he wouldn’t look like a creep eating Hal’s cake, alone, in a kitchen that wasn’t his. Yet his stomach seems to be wanting more than a sugary treat to kick off the day, and it wasn’t quiet about it either.

“Sorry…” Barry said through an apologetic smile for the fourth time today. He knows it's illogical to feel shameful for his own anatomy – Sue doesn’t seem to mind – but the irrational part of his brain likes to poke its doubtful little head from all the reasonable thoughts in his brain whenever he has to socialize. 

She ignored the loud grumble of Barry's stomach altogether. “Jim and the kids were so excited when you called,” Leaning in closer her smile grew wider as she flattened her hand to have her open palm facing herself as if she were trying to show him her nails, “Jim won’t admit it, but he missed Hal like crazy. Every time he and the kids would see you or Hal on screen they act like they’re watching some sports game every time you two do anything.” 

Chuckling at the thought of someone cheering him on behind a news report, Barry was somewhat flattered to know he didn't need to be with Hal to have Hal’s family accept him.

“He went out with the kids on the weekend to get ready for his birthday. The kids sounded like they were celebrating the next Hanukkah.” Sue chortled as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I’m glad, it’s not every year Hal’s free on his birthday. Even less so to relax and spend time with his family.”

“Does his job take up that much time? I mean–I always knew he leaves for a few days, but...I guess I didn’t think it would be that often.” Sue placed her fingertips on her cheek.

“He has a high role in the Corps. He spends a few weeks away from Earth but it’s for good reason.” the speedster’s stomach decided to produce a low, rumbling gurgle between his sentences, “...Sorry.”

“Weeks?!” Sue gasped as she moved her hand over her heart, “I didn’t even realize he spends that much time in space. No wonder Jim’s telling me he’s always jumping around.” Pausing for a moment, she noticed the awkward look on the blond’s face after she said her last sentence. “Oh! I’m so sorry! That–That was--incredibly rude of me I didn’t--I mean, Jim doesn’t tell me that anymore – of course – not when Hal told him he settled down with you!” 

Mustering his best understanding smile, he had to take a silent breath in before speaking. “No, no, it’s alright. I mean, he’s right, Hal was in a bunch of...flings in the past.”

The kitchen got uncomfortably quiet after that. The thick tension grew quickly, in seconds the speedster felt like the atmosphere was slowly crushing him as he chewed on the inside of his bottom lip. He could see he wasn’t the only one affected by the silence since Sue also looked visibly uncomfortable as she regrettably stared into a kitchen tile on the floor.

“I, uh…” she started, shaking her head lightly to get herself back to reality, “Would...uhm, I’m assuming things are going well, though?” she placed on a straining smile, “Uh, between you and Hal.”

“Oh, yeah it’s, it’s going well.” he swallowed, not knowing what to add but too afraid to allow the stillness back, “As much as--as a relationship can be between two heroes, heh, y...yeah…” adding a nervous laugh at the end was not a good move on his part but he was ending it like he’s never had any human interaction in his life anyway.

Fortunately for both of them, that was when the front door swung open and in clambered the kids followed by two grown men, one giving the other a noogie.

“Mom! I’m hungry!” Arthur announced as he skipped up to his mom and climbed into her lap, “Uncle Hal said we can eat at McDonald’s!” 

“We didn’t choose McDonald’s!” Jane shouted, running from the living room into the kitchen.

“I wanna go to McDonald’s!” Arthur retaliated, “McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!”

“ _You_ said you wanted to go to that pizza place!”

“Uncle Hal said he wanted to go to Olive Garden!” Howie butted.

“No!” Arthur and Jane yelled at him in unison. 

“Can we go to McDonald’s?” 

“He did!” Howie crossed his arms.

“Uncle Hal said _we_ could pick a place to eat,” Jane muttered, frowning at both her brothers.

“I pick McDonald’s!”  
  
“You said you wanted to go to the pizza place.” Howie countered, taking Jane’s side.

“What is going on?” Sue lifted off Arthur from her, “What did Uncle Hal tell you?” she asked, making her way towards her children all the while Arthur shouted for McDonald’s.

Getting up from his seat, Barry decided he might as well investigate what Hal got himself into this time. It wasn’t the first time he’s seen his nieces and nephews break into an argument because of something he said.

“Uncle Hal said we can pick a place to eat on his birthday,” Jane explained as Barry walked past the children to figure out what Hal and Jim were up to.

Peeking into the living room, the blond spotted Hal holding Jim’s head in a headlock, the younger man’s face pressed against the cushion. 

That couldn’t be comfortable.

“Hal.” Barry tried gaining the Lantern’s attention, crossing his arms while smirking as he stood over the two men.

The two men paused their wrestling session, Hal, looking up to find Barry watching him with an amused raised brow, causing him to loosen his hold, which Jim took advantage of and slipped out from the stranglehold. Standing up with a frazzled look, he adjusted his glasses and smoothed down his hair. 

“Be glad I’m the bigger man here and would never bodyslam you around my kids.” Jim huffed as he dusted off his clothes, causing Hal to burst out laughing.

“What a poor choice of words! “Bigger man”, you obviously have never seen these guns before.” Hal cackled, flexing his arm to justify himself.

“Trust me, I’ve seen enough–”

“The kids are fighting over where to eat.” the blond jutted a thumb towards the ruckus that was moving towards the living room. 

“Told you,” Jim mumbled, making Hal kick him in the calf as the kids came racing into the living room.

“Uncle Hal!” they all cried in unison before they broke out into their own sentences. 

“Woah, Woah, Woah! What’re we fighting about?”

“Arthur wants to go to McDonald’s but you said you wanted to go to Olive Garden!” Howie elbowed Arthur to get into the living room, fighting as the two men did just a few seconds ago.

“But Uncle Hal said _we_ could pick a place and _we all_ said we wanted pizza!” Jane defended her case, pushing Arthur back.

“Stop it.” Sue scolded, pushing them all through the door frame as well as separating them from each other.

“Yeah, no need to fight, we can go to all of those places.” Hal compromised, making Barry nearly facepalm himself. Hal’s a great uncle but he can...spoil...his nieces and nephews a lot if Barry had to put it nicely.

* * *

Watching the kids come back with soup and crackers, Barry has to smile to himself as he turned to see Hal enjoy tormenting his brother by occasionally stealing the potato wedges from his plate before going back to munching on his spaghetti as if he didn’t do anything.

They all ended up going to a buffet upon taking a tying vote and Barry simply suggesting an all-you-can-eat-buffet he spotted nearby when he was running to the Jordan’s place.

Taking a crunchy bite from a chicken wing, Barry added a forkful of chow mein before stopping. That little thought of self-consciousness poking out from the depths of his mind, his stomach rumbled as if saying ‘Pay more attention to me!’, but that only caused his anxiety to grow. 

He was eating too fast again. 

Placing his fork and chicken wing down, he wiped his hands on a napkin as he leaned back in his chair. Looking around again, he knew no one was watching him eat. The kids were slurping on their soups and dunking their crackers. The others were catching up, Hal talking about any crazy missions he went on, Jim and Sue listening intently and adding on to the conversation about their own lives.

See? Nothing to worry about.

And yet…

The small vibration of his phone caused the little doubt to recede back into his mind. Fishing out his phone out from his pants pocket, Barry read the contact, the small bat symbol was all it took to make him sigh.

‘ _Aquaman needs backup, Coast City pier_ ’

Of course, something had to happen on Hal’s birthday.

Well, this might as well happen, Hal is busy catching up with Sue and Jim anyway. Tapping the brunette on the shoulder, Barry meekly shot the couple a smile before whispering, “Hey, something came up, you have money for the--” Barry motioned at the food. 

Hal pouted for a second then resumed back to his resting face. “You need back up? I can come with you if you want.”

Barry hesitated for a moment, “Uh, I...I don’t think so. I’ll comm you if I need back up though, yeah?” 

“Okay, stay safe.”

“I’ll try.” Barry smiled gingerly. Glancing at the couple, then the children – who were now watching them – Barry tentatively swooped down and gave Hal a peck on the lips before standing up to move, asking again, “Do you have money?” 

“Oh, yeah got my wallet, don’t worry.” 

“Is it enough though?”

Hal rolled his eyes, “I’ll be _fine_. Go!”

“Okay,” Barry said sucking in a breath, looking back up, giving a quick wave and a, “Bye!’” before leaving the explanation for Hal.

* * *

“Flash to Aquaman, I’m at the Central City pier. What am I on the lookout for?” Barry stood motionless at the pier, worried he had missed something while sweeping the deck.

“Stay where you are, I’m pushing it to the pier.” Arthur’s voice came over.

Stay where he is? He can’t possibly be thinking of pushing whatever he has towards Coast City, is he?

“Okay… Pushing what?” he pressed on his comm, eyes roaming around until he could see off into the horizon a bit of movement aside from all the ships on the water. It’s definitely not safe to push something into the pier when there are tens of ships sailing about, he’d have to somehow plan a way on getting the boats back to the docks–

“Hydra.”

The speedster’s jaw fell, just as Arthur informed him, he could make out a figure off in the distance with several limbs. 

He’s got to be kidding. 

“I think you need Wonder Woman, not me.” 

“It’s just a–” the line cut and Barry was starting to see the tidal waves starting to rush towards the city. 

“Nope, I’m calling Diana.” Barry told him, then pressed a separate button on his comm that radioed to all of the League members, “Diana we need you near Coast City docks, we got a hydra.”

“No we don’t, we’ll have Mera, she’ll be just fine.” he heard Arthur grunt on the other side, but he was too busy calculating the steps he’d have to take to get all the boats by the docks to care for what Arthur’s opinion is. No doubt, if he could see the hydra from this far out the percentage of Coast City getting hit but a tsunami was high. 

“Message received, Barry. I’m on my way,” Diana replied, making a slight weight lift off his shoulders.

“We don’t need Diana.”

“Arthur, I think it’s better to be more prepared than to be underprepared.” Barry sighed, spotting a thick rope lying on the docks. Maybe if he leads the boats to the docks by rope?

“It’s not a mythical Hyr–” the king yelled into the comms, making Barry flinch. 

“What?” 

The line went silent. He must have his comm switched to ‘pressed to activate’ as Barry has.

Looking back to the boats, he wondered if he could create small waves to carry the boats back to the docks before the tidal waves could reach the boats. Does he even have a choice right now?

“HYDRAS! The microorganism!” Arthur furiously shouted, causing Barry to stop for a millisecond to glance up at the distant form of the monster.

Clicking his earpiece into automatically inputting his voice when he talks, Barry twisted his brow in confusion. “A microorganism?”

“Tell me you know what a fucking microorganism is!” 

Racing onto the water, Barry searched to see if he could see any other ships out on the sea. “I know what it is, but usually they aren’t _that_ big!” As he neared the monster, he could see it didn’t look like the ones pictured in mythology books. It looked more like a giant green, upside-down squid with a texture of a dried-out sponge.

“Yeah! I know! What kind of pollution are you throwing away up here?!”

Driving himself towards the hydra, Barry pushed himself to run around where he hoped the battlefield would stay. “I don’t know?! The normal amount? And how can you even tell it’s pollution?” Skirting around to create waves that would carry boats from the area, he nearly got wiped out by a wave created by the hydra.

“IT’S RADIOACTIVE!” 

Of course it was. How did toxic radioactive waste get into the ocean anyway? He guesses laws and lives don't stop anything from happening.

“Can you make a barrier around the thing and stop its tidal waves?” Barry sighed feeling a small amount of faith in humanity slipped from himself, immediately feeling water barriers rise from behind him before he tripped on a different wave that came on him from a different angle. 

Holding his breath, the speedster flapped his arms and kicked his legs until he reemerged for a split second before another wave collided against him. Kicking some more, eventually, he surfaced, then slowing time just enough for him to be able to lift himself from the water and vibrate his feet until he could regain his footing and start running on the water again.

“So...are we killing it?” Barry asked a bit worried about how humane that was, it was simply a microorganism that unfortunately became radioactive, and it wasn’t like it could’ve controlled the transformation.

“Just weakening it.” Arthur ducked from one of its arms that produced a lightning shock.

“Then what?” Wonder Woman’s voice came over as Barry spotted her flying over the water barrier, “Leave it for natural predators?”

“No, it’s too radioactive. That’ll still leave everything at risk for radiation.” Arthur threw his trident back, making the water under the hydra part, and clearing the battlefield.

“Maybe we can get some marine biologists on the scene?” Barry thought out loud, jumping from the waves – pinwheeling his arms slowly to get some distance on his leap – down to the sandy seafloor with a heavy thump, “Maybe move this beast into an aquarium?” Once he finished his sentence, a giant wave of neon green pulsed from the behemoth, and the feeling of nausea hit him like a semi-truck nearly making his knees buckle. Stopping to take the sudden headache, he hung his head and held it in his hands, feeling his stomach twist painfully in his gut, “What was that?”

“Think it’s releasing radiation,” Arthur said weakly.

“Can you not talk to it?... Control it?” Diana asked, blocking one of its strikes with her bracelets at a rather slow pace compared to how she typically reacts to attacks.

“I tried.” they could hear the king take a breath to stabilize himself, diving back into the water to quickly escape from another attack, “It’s nervous system seems like it's been overtaken by radiation to the point that I can’t control it for more than a few minutes.” 

“Alright, well how do we weaken it?” Diana pulled out her lasso and twirled it over her head, aiming at an oncoming arm.

“Just...anything.” the sudden shift in the tone of the king’s voice was apparent, making Barry assume the sudden blast of radiation was affecting him like it affected Barry, though the symptoms for the speedster were gone as soon as they started.

Looking up, he wasn’t sure what he could do. The radiation wiped out his train of thought, and now he had no clue on how to stop the monster.

“Anything?” Diana managed to lasso the arm and began flying around the hydra, causing it to spin and start lashing out wildly at her.

“It’s resilient, but don’t go too far.” 

“Got it. Barry?” 

“Yep? What’s up?” the speedster stopped in his tracks, looking up at Wonder Woman as she kept rounding the hydra.

“Distract it.” 

Giving a half-hearted salute, Barry went to circle around the hydra in the opposite direction of Wonder Woman’s flight. At first, gaining the monster’s attention, but then began to lift it up as Barry started to create a tornado under it. 

Now he definitely got the hydra’s attention. 

Maybe a little too much.

In the creature’s confusion, it released a new pulse of radiation, this time much larger, and stronger. The fatigue collided against him more painfully and seemed to last a few seconds too long this time, causing Barry to trip and tumble on his feet, landing face-first into the sand like some ragdoll that had been tossed. The sudden stop made it feel as though his brain knocked against his skull, causing his already raging headache to boom into something unbearable. 

Tapping back into the Speedforce, he took a breath before moving his head the tiniest bit to the side, heaving when he tried picking himself up. The headache pounded against his head as he made to shakily stand, squeezing his eyes closed to let his brain process one sensation at a time. 

Cracking his eyes open, he focused his sight on the water wall, wondering how wonderful it’d feel if he ran straight into it, as if the cool Pacific waters would flow into his head and cool down his melting brain. But when he went to take a step, his brain felt like it bounced agonizingly against his skull, wincing horribly, he took a deep breath before he started sprinting towards the water, each step driving back the drilling pain to the front of his mind.

Watching the barrier near him, he started seeing the wall reaching out to him as if it were falling. That snapped the speedster back to reality, barely able to cringe at his headache when the wall started breaking. Knowing full well if he tapped out of his speed it’d collapse on him, but the whole area was going to flood how was he supposed to avoid it?

Balling up his fists, he closed his eyes once more, taking a few deep breaths to prepare himself. Opening them back up, he ran straight at the water, the constant movement irritating his brain even further, and when he was a few feet from the wall forced himself to leap. Rocketing from the ground, he cleared the distance between the collapsing wall and the crunchy sand, nearly sticking the landing if the surface he landed on was smooth, but the small waves caused him to stumble, somersaulting into the water, he splashed around to be able to pop out from the water, gulping for air.

Slowing down time enough to take himself from the saltwater once again, he could already tell the waves were collapsing around him with the way the water sloped. Swinging around, he found Arthur dangling around by his ankles because the hydra, while his trident shined brightly with its three prongs stuck deep inside the body of the beast – that likely being the reason as to why the walls were crashing. He could make out Wonder Woman’s flying form bearing her sword in ready to slide off the tentacle lashing the king around.

But there was a third thing he noticed – or rather – person. A speck of red in the distance, their hair floating around their half-submerged face. Who was that?

Kicking his legs back into gear, he splashed on top of the ocean, the farther he ran from the battlefield, the less his head thumped with the splitting headache. As he got closer, he saw their eyes follow him, the little ripples around their face growing as they emerged from the water.

“Oh, Mera!” he said, relief washing over him, realizing he hadn’t tapped out of the Speedforce yet.

Tapping out, he received a confused look before she asked him what was going on. 

“Can you raise a water barrier? We needa dry out a hydra but also keep it contained.” he turned back to the battlefield, locating Wonder Woman flying away from the creature with what Barry could only assume was Arthur in her arms. The water was quickly receding to fill the battlefield, massive waves crashed together against the hydra, the entire ocean creating a sinkhole.

Her ocean eyes darted to the sinkhole as she raised her arms, separating the water again and propelling it back as she dove back underwater, the murkiness covering up where she was swimming, but Barry presumed it was towards the hydra. 

Lifting his hand to touch his fingertips to his temple, he debated on whether or not he should follow for a moment before his expression changed into irritation. Of course he should.

Placing his hand back down, he raced towards the surrounding wall, now much taller than the one Arthur had grown. With enough momentum he could climb the barrier, quickly realizing it was forming a dome around the area. Making it in time to slip through a closing hole at the top, he fell several meters, flapping his arms when he neared the seafloor, landing on a knee with a loud crunch of sand underneath his body.

Just a few inches away from the wall, Barry braced himself against the wall as he slid up, quickly dusting his knees and turning. Facing towards the monster pressed against the wall of the dome, its arms writhing wildly as Barry’s eye grew wide, watching Mera walk up to the hydra in a wide stance.

With a tone that dared the creature to strike, she announced, “Xívτρα!” 

The voice alone seemed to make the hydra stop wriggling a little, its arms now going to feel around its area, no doubt trying to find Mera. 

“Ακριβώς εδώ.” ** _*_**

The words made the hydra’s arms zone in on Mera’s location, carefully until it touched her heel. Trying to feel up until its tentacles, but once she grabbed one of its arms its tentacles fell around her. Then, she started talking again, in the language that sounded Greek. Even though he couldn’t understand what she was saying, the tone sounded like a scolding mother, and the way the hydra acted looked like a shameful child who got caught sticking their hand in the cookie jar.

The situation was strange, but it seemed to be in control now. 

Standing to the side, he leaned against the wall, keeping an eye out just to make sure nothing escalated. 

* * *

The two have been conversing for a while now. Mera had managed to remove Arthur's trident from the hydra's body with a loud, wet squelch. Sometimes, the hydra would make low, grumbling noises, which the redhead would respond with a stiff silence. 

Barry had been communicating to Diana and Arthur – who were outside of the dome – about what was going on. The two heroes agreed to stand by outside just in case, as Barry sat on the ground, cross-legged, playing with the bits of large gravel that was mixed with the sand.

Eventually, with all of her weight placed on one foot, Mera crossed her arms for at least a minute until the hydra decided to roll over, its massive form rumbling the floor, even managing to spray some sand when it hit the ground.

Laying there, the creature's muscles started squeezing, its movements getting higher on its body until it opened its sandworm-like mouth from between its tentacles, forcing out green, chewed up cud. The more it spewed out, the paler and smaller it got. It kept at it for nearly five minutes, and at that point, the speedster was worried Mera was making it perform some cruel and usual punishment. 

His concern grew as it kept shrinking. Smaller and smaller, until it could practically fit into Mera’s hand. 

“Is it...Is it okay?” he stood up, his voice dripping in unease, his brows knitted as he fidgeted with fingers. 

Walking up to the unmoving creature’s body, she picked it up, holding it close to her as if it were her pet, instead of a monster that just barfed up most of its weight. “I’m presuming it is. I was looking for it, that was why it took a while for me to get here.”

“Oh! So, it’s your pet?”

She laughed, fetching Arthur’s trident as she walked towards Barry, “Heaven’s no. It was used for experimentation, but the lab was caught in the crosshairs of a riot a few weeks ago so suddenly the scientists could not evacuate the animals.” Gazing down at the motionless creature in her arms, she stroked it tenderly with her finger, “It seems as though this creature made it to the waste bin before–uh...what would you call it?” she frowned as her brows narrowed for a second before they popped back up as a lightbulb lit up in her mind, “Animal control, arrived.”

“A lab?” Barry wondered.

“Of course, you don’t think you’re the only species who can perform experiments, do you?”

“Of course not!” giving a nervous smile, “It's just Arthur said the creature was caused by pollution that was dumped up here.” 

“I don’t believe he was informed about the riot, and the waste could’ve been spilled and floated to the surface.”

“How come Arthur couldn’t control?”

Mera smiled kindly, “The xívτρα is not a hydra, rather, a ground-dwelling creature that can swim, though the hydra and the xívτρα are closely related. I would also have to assume because the xívτρα was larger than most aquatic life, which played a part in how difficult it was to control.”

“Oh…” closing his mouth, Barry looked back at the creature, “Uh, do you think it will be okay?” 

She sighed heavily, “I’m...I am not sure. I will have to take it to see someone who is experienced.” 

“Yeah...it...looks lifeless. You should take it over now, Diana, Arthur, and I can clean up the mess.” 

“That would be wonderful, but I’m afraid close exposure to such substances would affect your kind’s health negatively. Atlantans are much more used to the waste’s effects, even Arthur has a hard time coping while being exposed to such materials since he is part human.” She shook her head, “No, I shall send Atlantans who are experienced in disposing of toxins such as these, but I am pleased by your insistence, thank you, Flash.”

* * *

He had just come back from the Watchtower, concerned he had some radiation lingering on his suit and skin and wanting a quick check before he went home – because, of course, they had that type of technology on the Watchtower, thank you, billionaire, Bruce. Thoroughly washing his suit and his face before zeta tubing his way back to his house, the moon was about halfway illuminated, but it still didn’t provide that much light for him to make it up the stairs and phase through his door.

Barry could tell Hal had arrived home already with the Lantern’s shoes by the door, and the partly opened cabinet doors that Barry most definitely closed before they left for Jim's.

Closing the cabinet doors once again, he spotted some bags full of styrofoam take-out boxes, on the table. Taking a peek at what was inside, he was engulfed in the warm scent of Asian food. 

Hal must’ve gotten home recently if this was still warm. 

Closing the container back up, he went on to open the other boxes, curious about what was in each of them. Some had meals, others had dessert, two giant paper containers were just full of sour cream and gravy, and for some reason, there were about ten individually wrapped mints added into each bag.

Retying the bag handles, he felt his stomach rumbling, only being fed some cake and whatever food he had at the buffet before he was called off to the ocean. He’ll get to it once he's taken a shower. 

Hearing the bedroom door open, he was met with the birthday boy himself in the speedster’s robe.

“How was the mission?” Hal asked, stretching his arms over his head as if he’d been seated for a while.

“It went well. Got kinda sick from radiation but I’m feeling better.” Barry opened his arms when Hal went to hug him and gave a kiss, “Other than that though, maybe a little tired.”

“Aww…” releasing his hold on the speedster he went to open the bags, “You hungry? I don’t think I saw you eat much before you left.”

“Yeah, kind of. But I’m gonna hit the shower first.” 

“Okay, I’ll reheat these while you’re cleaning up. What do you wanna eat? Chinese? Mexican? There was even this Jamaican place that opened up. I haven’t tried it yet, but Sue said it was delicious.”

“Honestly, anything sounds good right now. Maybe all of it?”

* * *

Stealing another kiss from the speedster, he hummed pleasantly, tasting the mint from the toothpaste on Barry’s tongue. Eyeing the tossed robe and lingerie on the floor, he knew he’d have to pick those up soon, or maybe in the morning, probably in the morning. 

Tonight he just wants to cuddle up with his boyfriend. 

Hal was tired, and he didn’t even do much today. Just visit his nieces and nephews and talked with Jim, Sue, and–

“Oh.” Hal spurred, rubbing Barry’s arm to get his attention.

“Hmm?” the speedster lifted his head, his eyes already a little droopy from exhaustion. 

“You didn’t tell me Jan was coming to Jim’s.” 

“...Huh?” 

“Yeah, she said she tried calling you first since you said you wanted Helen and Jason to see me, but she ended up having to call Jim.”

His eyebrows shot up as he sat up, “Oh, oh yeah. I...I didn’t think she was going to come, though. She didn’t sound too excited when I asked.”

“Yeah, she can be like that sometimes. She was asking where you were when we met up.” Hal chuckled, wrapping his arms around Barry’s waist.

“What’d you say?”

Gently pulling Barry down to the bed, he smiled, “Said a case came up and she was instantly fine with it when I told her you were a forensic scientist.”

Looping his arm around Hal’s neck Barry felt as the brunette snuggled closer into him, “Got to play with Helen and Jason, and Jane and Arthur and Howie.” Kissing the blond again, he sweetly smiles, “They would’ve loved you, y’know.”

Lightly blushing, Barry averted his eyes, looking to the pillow Hal was laying on instead, “Did Jack not come?”

That caused Hal to scoff, “No, too busy.” 

“Oh…”

“It’s not like things would’ve gone better anyway. Probably best to just let him do his work.”

“Yeah…” his voice faded at the end of the word, shifting a little to wrap his other arm around Hal. Barry knows Jack and Hal rarely get along, but sometimes it seems like both of them are too prideful to admit–“Oh!” he snapped his fingers, remembering one last thing. The whole reason why he let Hal drink more than he should’ve last night.

“Hmm?” 

Slipping out from underneath the covers, Barry turned on the bedside lamp and raced to the closet, separating a pile of his jeans to pick up a green and white striped gift with some red ribbon around it stashed neatly behind it. It wasn’t the best-wrapped gift ever, but he hoped Hal would like what was inside. Placing the jeans back in their original place, Barry raced back to climb onto the bed and give the gift to the Lantern.

“What?”

“Your present.” the blond grinned widely, watching as Hal sat up to better hold the gift.

“Aww...Bar, you--you...dork...You didn’t have to...”

“I know, but what’s a birthday without a gift?”

“Bear…” Hal said – the name full of nothing but adoration – looking up with knitted brows as if he couldn’t accept the gift, making Barry’s heart swell.

“Just open it.” Barry waved his hand, “I spent a lot of time on it. I’m not letting you get away with not opening it.”

“Okay, okay.” Hal untied the ribbon and tore open the wrapping, unveiling a giant jar filled with colorful pieces of folded paper. Moving the wrapping paper away from the present, Barry grabbed the excess paper, quickly tapping into the Speedforce to dispose of it, and to pick up the robe and lacey lingerie. Seating himself back on the bed he watched Hal’s reaction as he read the label on the jar, with anticipation. 

“Jar of Love.” Hal read aloud, chortling at the cheesiness of it, “In this Jar you will find hundreds of notes to read if you need me but I'm not around. Red: Remember When; Orange: Things I Notice; Yellow: Jokes; Green: Reasons I Love You; Blue: Hope...” he looked up at Barry as if he were making sure the gift was for him, then back down at the words, "Purple: Confidence; Pink: Compliments; White: When You’re Afraid; Brown: Random; 

There was a small silence for a second, one where Hal raised his eyebrow and turned the jar and shook it like he didn’t believe every color would be in there. "Oh, Bar…”

“Do you like it?” Barry’s grin widening.

Placing the jar back in his lap, he looked and bit his lip, “Of course I do… H...how long did it take...for you to make this?”

“Uh...I don’t know, probably like...oh, I don’t actually know.” Barry thought, pursing his lips as stared at the jar, “I don’t know, maybe two to three years?” Looking back up, he could see Hal’s bottom lip slightly quiver before he moved the jar from his lap and crawled over to hug him.

“Aww…” Barry lightly giggling, “Are you crying?”

“No…” he heard Hal meekly say, sniffing afterward, causing Barry to gently stroke his hair to soothe him. Then, he heard Hal swallow thickly before he laid his face beside Barry’s collarbone, “...Can we snuggle...?”

Giving him a loving kiss against his head, Barry rubbed his arm in comfort, softly answering with, “Yeah.” 

Gently maneuvering Hal to lay back down, Barry took the jar to place it on the nightstand and turned off the lamp, then crawled back to his side of the bed and slipped back under the sheets. Hal crept into his arms, his forehead touching Barry’s chest as he nestled in, his knees knocking against the speedster’s before Barry sandwiched one of the pilot’s legs between his, while Hal did the same until there was barely any space between them.

“Goodnight,” Barry whispered, closing his eyes as he embraced the pilot.

“Barry?” 

“Yea?” opening back his eyes. He couldn’t see Hal, nor could Hal see him, but it just felt more respectful to open his eyes.

“I--you...I know you wanted to...you had plans for us to spend some time together, and we...didn’t really get to do...a lot. I’m sorry.” 

Smiling warmly, he pressed a kiss to the crown of Hal’s head, “That’s alright, it’s your birthday after all.”

“I know I just...you just...sounded so excited to do what you planned but...I ended up waking up late and we didn’t spend a lot of time together at Jim’s place, and I was mostly talking to Jim and Sue at the buffet–”

“You missed them.”

“I--I know, I just...we didn’t get to do what you really wanted to do.”

Caressing Hal’s hair Barry looked at him with half-lidded eyes, “We’re spending time together right now, right?”

“Yeah, but–”

“Then that’s all I really want. Just some time with you, it doesn’t matter how long.” 

There was a long silence where Barry wasn't sure what was going on in the brunette’s head, but the way he shifted made Barry think he was uncomfortable with the silence. Then he anxiously hummed and said, “Okay…”

Lifting Hal’s face by the chin, Barry kissed him deeply, then pulled back, reassuringly stating, “I love you.” before letting go of Hal’s chin, feeling the brunette’s head find the crook of his neck and settle there.

Barry thought that would be the end of it, since there was another long silence where he thought Hal drifted off to sleep – and Barry was following suit – until he heard Hal, in the softest, quietest voice he’s ever heard come from the Lantern, say, “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> * Greek: "Right here."  
> All kudos, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome!  
> Hope everyone could enjoy Hal's birthday, if not, I hope you have a wonderful day today!


End file.
